Cancers with Unmet Needs, Translational Research Award 2020

Background

Advances in prevention, detection and treatment have revolutionised cancer medicine and survival. Outcome has significantly improved in Ireland in the last 30 years with 6 in 10 cancer patients now surviving at least 5 years after their diagnosis.

However, the pace of progress has not been the same for every cancer. Globally and nationally survival has not dramatically increased in some cancer groups such as rare cancers, cancers affecting children and young adults, as well as hard-to-treat cancers like primary and metastatic forms of lung, pancreatic and oesophageal cancers and brain tumours. These cancers continue to have unmet needs in terms of lack of effective treatment options and/or lack of research capacity within the area, both of which contributes to inferior survival and outcome.

A key priority for the Irish Cancer Society isto ensure that all patients in our community benefit from world class cancer research and expertise, and that the gap in survival between different cancer groups is closed.

In line with this commitment the Irish Cancer Society has launched the Cancers with Unmet Needs, Translational Research Award 2020. The aim of the award is to provide funding for a translational research project that addresses an issue(s) in a cancer with an unmet need- a cancer that has a lack of effective treatment options and/or a lack of research capacity in the
area.

While there are many definitions of such a scope and all cancers have inherent challenges for those who are affected by them, for this award cancers with unmet needs are defined as:

• Rare cancers (annual incidence of less than six cases per 100,000)
• Childhood and youth cancers (aged 0–24 years)
• Lung, oesophageal, pancreatic cancers and brain tumours (primary and metastatic forms)

The translational project may be researching a new idea or may be a new arm of an existing project that is patient focussed and aimed at improving patient care and/or outcome.

However, please note this award may not be used to top up a project that already has existing funding, the proposed research project must not be currently funded.

Funding

The maximum funding granted for the Cancers with Unmet Needs, Translational Research Award 2020 is €100,000 over 24 months. Funding for one award is available.

As part of the €100,000 funding, a mandatory provision of €1,000 is available to support Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in the proposed research project. Please note that the €1,000 available for PPI may be supplemented with funds from the remaining core (€99,000) budget. However, the core budget may not be supplemented with the PPI fund.

How to apply

Applications must be completed and submitted through the Irish Cancer Society Gateway Grant Tracker online system. In order to submit an online application you are required to register at the following address: https://grants.cancer.ie.

Deadline for applications: 3.00pm, Friday 23 October 2020

Please see the Guidelines for Applicants for more information